


The Storm Speaker's Daughter

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 03:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15940664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Prompt fill #50: Tall Tale. It’s another Deadfire prompt, but given the nature of what I went with, there aren’t really any spoilers





	The Storm Speaker's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill #50: Tall Tale. It’s another Deadfire prompt, but given the nature of what I went with, there aren’t really any spoilers

 

“...our best bet is to sail around the southern tip of these islands here and back up.” Beodul gestured as he talked, indicating the route he thought they should take.

Tavi pulled her mind from its wanderings--mostly in the direction of belowdecks and a certain wizard--and surveyed the surrounding ocean. “Wouldn’t it be faster to cut through there?” She pointed to the channel between two of the islands in the chain, visible over the port railing. “It’s a ways off, sure, but it looks wide enough to handle the _Defiant_ , and has to be faster than sailing all the way around the bottom.”

Beodul laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. “The Embrace? No offense, Captain, but the only reason t’ go that way is if you’re anxious to be a corpse again.”

“Shoulda left off that last word if you were aimin’ not to offend,” Tavi retorted elbowing him playfully. “What’s so bad about it? Looks pretty calm from here.”

“See further down, where those cliffs are? Only place more turbulent is Ondra’s Mortar,” Beodul nodded toward the towering cliffs that had probably given the passage its name; rocky abutments stretched out toward each other. “’Side from that?” He grinned. “Legend holds it’s haunted.”

She raised both eyebrows at that. “Do tell.”

“What, no knee-jerk _There’s no such thing as haunted_?” Beodul sounded surprised. “No insisting ghosts aren’t real?”

Tavi snorted and leaned against the railing. “Pretty hard to deny ghosts are real when I’ve fought a shitton of ‘em. And I really am curious what’s the legend? We can pass the time as we take your long way.”

“Alright, Cap. Though I doubt it’ll take the whole trip. It ain’t that long a tale.”

She shrugged. “Anything to help pass the time.”

“Well, then, I’ll add a caution I’m no storyteller and begin,” Beodul said. 

“Consider me warned,” Tavi chuckled, gesturing for him to continue.

Beodul took a seat on a nearby barrel and reached for a small crate of pistols that needed cleaning. “Need to be doin’ something with my hands,” he explained. “Which version you want, Captain?”

“Whichever you heard first,” Tavi said, biting back an amused smile. “Stop stallin’ and tell it, Beodul. I really don’t care how good a storyteller you are.”

“Alright, then. Long ago, so legend claims, there was a girl whose tribe lived on one of those islands. Her name was Kiana....”

-o-

Kiana was the Storm Speaker’s daughter, with a spirit as free and wild as the waves her mother sought to tame. Perhaps more, for though Naya could turn aside even the fiercest waves or storms, she couldn’t convince her daughter to stay in the safety of the village, well away from any possible threats.

Kiana didn’t see the point to such a restriction; theirs was the only tribe on the island, hardly any of the wildlife was predatory, and they were protected from sea-going threats by the tides themselves. Seeing her daughter was adamant and chafing under her tight rein, Naya relented somewhat, asking only that Kiana not leave the island and risk the dangers that had claimed her father’s life years before. That was easy enough, and Kiana was happy to make that promise so she could both honor her mother’s wishes and wander the beautiful lands surrounding their village.

One day, as she was walking a beach on the far side of the island, Kiana heard a cry for help. It turned out to be a young man, out in the water just deep enough to be in danger. Moved by compassion, Kiana swam out to him and discovered his ankle was trapped in coral. She dove beneath the surface and broke enough of the coral to free him. They both swam back to her island, and it was far closer than the neighboring uninhabited one. Once they were safely ashore, they exchanged introductions--and his gratitude--as Kiana helped bandage his bleeding ankle.

He told her his name was Ahe, and his people had just settled on the neighboring island after leaving their home to prevent overcrowding. He had been fishing, hoping to catch enough to fortify their supplies, and thought he saw a pearl, he explained. The current had caught him when he tried to reach it and swept him off his feet. He’d tried to reclaim his footing, but stepped on the coral instead of rock, and she knew the rest. 

When Kiana finished with his ankle, she asked if he wanted help getting home, for she knew of a way that would keep him out of the water. Ahe, of course, accepted, and Kiana took him to a natural rock bridge she’d found that joined their islands. Between her promise to her mother and the dangers that roamed the Wild Rock--as they’d named it--she’d never felt the urge to explore further.

Kiana hesitated, torn between honoring her promise and knowing Ahe was need help traveling back to his people. Fortunately, one of Ahe’s fellow hunters was nearby looking for him. The hunter heard their voices as they climbed the arch, and met them halfway across. Before parting, Ahe gave Kiana the pearl he’d found as thanks for saving his life.

A few days later, Kiana’s wandering brought her back to the bridge. To her surprise, Ahe was sitting at the top of the arch, tossing pebbles into the channel below.

 _I can’t hunt until I heal,_ he said as explanation, kicking out his injured leg. _So I’ve come here, to keep out of the way. And hoping I’d see you again._

Kiana smiled and showed him how she’d turned the pearl into a necklace. _I was hoping to see you as well,_ she admitted. They spent the the next several hours talking and enjoyed themselves so much they did it again the next day. And the next. Over the following weeks Kiana and Ahe met almost every day on the rock bridge. They talked about themselves, their tribes, things they’d seen and done. Kiana told of the pressures on the storm speaker’s daughter, even though she possessed none of her mother’s abilities. Ahe shared that he was the chief’s son, and the responsibilities he carried even though he wasn’t slated to inherit leadership when his father stepped down or died. These shared times where they could be themselves led to friendship, and friendship to love.

This presented a problem, as Kiana felt bound by her promise not to leave her island--even sitting on the bridge with him was sort of pushing it--and Ahe felt his people needed him too much for him to leave them. On top of that, Kiana’s tribe viewed Ahe’s with suspicion, as they were newcomers _and_ fierce enough to survive on the Wild Rock. 

Finally, though, they formed a plan: if Kiana could get Naya to release her from her promise, they could marry, forming an alliance between their people. They would be together, Kiana would be under the protection of warriors fierce enough to allay her mother’s fears, and it would benefit both their peoples immensely.

Unfortunately, before they could enact this plan, one of Kiana’s friends let slip to Naya that her daughter had been meeting with a man from the other island thanks to the rock bridge. Hurt and enraged by the thought of Kiana regularly breaking her promise, Naya stormed off to the bridge. Standing at its base, she summoned a wave of such power down the channel it overwhelmed the rock, smashing it into the channel and leaving swirling turbulence in its wake.

When Kiana learned what Naya had done, she was furious, and declared she no longer felt bound by her promise if her mother wasn’t going to trust her to keep it. Naya responded by blockading Kiana in their house and swearing she’d never again see the wild man who’d made her so rebellious.

Ahe, meanwhile, was meeting resistance from his people as well. They didn’t share his optimism and worried that an alliance with the soft people of the elder island would cost them more than they gained. They thought it unwise for one of the chief’s sons to tie himself to someone accustomed to an easier life than their island gave. Someone they feared would leave him when she saw how hard life could be.

With help from friends, Kiana and Ahe were able to get away and headed for their spot. Naya’s attempt to destroy the bridge had been mostly successful but a narrow band of rock remained in the middle. The lovers were so intent on reaching each other they didn’t take time to test it as they rushed to embrace one another, and it crumbled beneath them. They fell into the treacherous surf, holding each other close, and were never seen again. The only sign of either that was ever found was Kiana’s necklace, caught on a low hanging branch just before the channel opened to the sea, the pearl Ahe gave her still bound in its center.

Naya mourned the loss of her daughter, lamented Kiana’s recklessness, resented the ‘wild island man’ who emboldened her to leave. Her dealings with the with the waves became even more fierce, her mothering nature now focused on the people of her village, hoping to protect them as she’d failed to do with Kiana. For the rest of her life, she visited the remnants of the bridge on Kiana’s birthday and cursed the blindness of love that took her daughter from her.

-o-

“...supposedly you can hear Kiana and Ahe’s voices in the surf if you get close, but I ain’t ever had opportunity to test that,” Beodul said theatrically, setting the last of the pistols, now clean, back in the crate. He shot Tavi a side-eye smirk. “It’s probably good we can’t go that way; they also say the passage is even worse if a ship has lovers aboard, Naya’s anger rekindling at the reminder of why she lost her daughter.”

“Why, you got somethin’ goin’ with Irrena or Chiputec I don’t know about?” Tavi returned, deadpan but eyebrows arched. She _refused_ to give him the satisfaction of making her blush. Even if she knew exactly what he was getting at and he was absolutely right.

“I’m not the one t’ worry about on that count, Cap,” Beodul chuckled, giving her another significant look as he hopped down from his barrel perch. “Now, I’ve got other duties to tend, if y’ don’t mind.”

And with that, he strode away, leaving Tavi alone with her thoughts, and the ghost of the tale he’d shared. She wasn’t alone for long, however, as Aloth joined her, a small smile on his face.

“Keeping out of trouble?” he asked, slipping his hand under hers and leaning against the railing next to her.

“Who, me? Never,” Tavi winked and squeezed his hand. “Keepin’ out of trouble’s _your_ specialty. I hunt it down wherever I can fuckin’ find it.”

Aloth laughed. “I don’t think truer words were ever spoken.”

“I can think of a few...” she teased, shuffling closer til their shoulders pressed together. “Love you, city slicker.”

Aloth chuckled quietly, leaning in to their semi-private moment to whisper, “Ditto.”

Tavi rolled her eyes and barely suppressed a snort as she butted her shoulder harder against his. That was the extent of her retribution, however. She was enjoying the evening too much. She stole one last look at the islands before they receded from view, and spared a moment to hope her story ended on a happier note.

**Author's Note:**

> Appearance for Kiana and Ahe


End file.
